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Psychiatry and the Elderly: Two articles from Focus Magazine by Rob Wipond

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An elderly woman, with the support of her family, has been struggling to avoid forced psychiatric treatment at the hands of Vancouver Island Health Authority doctors.

When I arrived at the prearranged location, Michelle met me at the door. “Sorry, I didn’t want to tell you on the phone,” she said. “Now we’re going to go to where Mia really is.”

We drove through the winding suburban roadways, and it felt like I was being taken into remote mountains of Central America for a secret meeting with el Comandante of the guerrilleros. I was actually on my way to interview an 82-year-old Victoria woman named Mia, described by friends and family as quiet, sophisticated and loving. Mia hadn’t threatened anyone or broken any laws, but she was on the run—from her doctor and the Vancouver Island Health Authority. And this tense drama had come to epitomize the challenges, and frightening dangers, of enforcing powerful mental health laws that are guided by woefully weak science.

It is easier to deal with a bunch of overweight zombies staring at the TV and shuffling out for smokes once an hour on the hour. I'm proud to say that they never broke me (and never will). I was the biggest pain in the ass on psych ward they had ever seen and I am immensely proud of that. They had me on astronomical doses of antipsychotics yet I still found the power to argue with them (and, occasionally, throw things at them). It got to the point that when I was really manic and was taken to the emergency room, they turned me away. I question the legality of that.